Hi all, I was wondering if anyone else has any issues with substance abuse and/or would like to see a forum on it....I know I would as I now struggle with it....thanks, mlc

I struggle with substance abuse, Mic, so I'm with you. It's not an easy battle, and the junk that lies underneath it is not easy to deal with...for me anyway.

Drinking was my coping mechanism of choice for many years. I'm grateful to be clean and sober today.

Yes! I like your ideas for the ACOA forum to include all types of chemical dependency...and to include those struggling with it as well...maybe we could change the name of the forum if others agreed?....thanks, mlc

oh I didn't think of that BB. I'm so sorry it's hard. good point.

I agree - it definitely should be open to all who have been impacted by addictions (either they have one or a family member or friend.)

Maybe it could be called "addictions and recovery" or something like that?

BB, I know you've deleted, but I read it earlier and I feel exactly the same way. ((((BB))))

aw sorry I deleted- I just didn't want to "gum up the works" here with my guilt.
you know what I mean...
I struglle with a lot of guilt. What I do to my kids by being so bad and messed up and weak. It is the hardest part. really vicious cycle, hopeless feeling.
I like the name addictions and recovery, R2G.

If I may weigh in, I think it would be better to keep the ACOA forum separate from an addictions and recovery forum. I worry about two very similar problems.

People who are struggling with the behaviors of an addict and how it affects them may not feel free to speak in front of people who are struggling with addictions for fear of hurting them and making their struggle with substance abuse even worse by increasing their sense of guilt for the affects of their behavior on their loved ones. And its important that they are able to speak.

And I worry that the people who need, just as much, to speak of their struggles, won't feel free to speak because they will feel like they are making it more difficult for people who are struggling with an addict's behavior to be completely open about how it makes them feel.

Both sets of people deserve to be fully heard, I'm just not sure that doing so in the same place, at the same time, is the best place to begin.

Does this make sense to anyone else? Or am I being to cautious and not trusting people to take care of themselves?

quote:

Does this make sense to anyone else? Or am I being to cautious and not trusting people to take care of themselves?

Yes, yes, yes!! I actually assumed this thread was to start a new forum for addictions support, which would be totally separate from ACOA. I think it would be incredibly hard from both perspectives to merge those two groups.

It's important for me as a recovering alcoholic to read the perspective of adult children -- this is a huge motivation for me to stay clean and sober, since I have young children. And yet for me to write about the urge to drink, as a mother, would surely be a trigger for someone who was raised with a drinking parent.

I was thinking the same thing AG when I read this thread. I think they need to be separate.